Thank You
by ayame-v02
Summary: When Terry discovers someone new at Wayne Manor, he realizes there's someone else out there worth protecting. He may find, however, that's easier said than done... Terry/OC
1. Chapter 1: An Unexpected Guest

I

"Excuse me, I'm delivering these today, and someone in here got one…"

Terry rested his head on his desk as final period started. _One more god damned hour,_ he thought, shutting his eyes. He smirked to himself. He knew he couldn't sleep for long, but maybe he could sneak a nap before he went to work…

"I have one for Jennifer Hale, Andy Winchester, Terry Mc… McGinnis?"

Maybe, he sighed at the thought, the old man would even let him sleep in a guest bedroom or something. Sleep right there, in that house! That… That _mansion._

"Terry? Are you Terry?"

_He's loaded, I bet the beds there are so comfortable. Hell, even Ace's bed looks like it's stuffed with goose down._

"Wake up, dumbass." The girl sitting next to Terry jabbed him in his side with her pencil, and he shot up suddenly, confused and disoriented as thirty other pairs of eyes watched him, some amused, but mostly bored. Terry turned to his assailant, who shrugged and pointed to the front of the classroom, where the instructor stood, glaring at him, next to a timid girl that Terry didn't recognize.

"T-Terry?" The girl said in a small voice. Terry stood up and watched her as she hurried to his desk, her eyes down. Hanging on her arm was a small basket full of cookies shaped like pumpkins and bats. Once the girl reached his desk, she shoved her hand into the basket and held up an orange cookie for Terry to take. Although she never looked up, he could tell she was blushing; her bright red ears poking through her blond hair was a dead giveaway. He couldn't see her face when she looked down, however. She was almost a foot shorter than him, and all he could see was the top of her head, where shiny blond hair hung lazily, some of it straight, some of it wavy. _Man, she could really use a hair brush…_ Terry thought, trying to figure out if he knew her after all. _Probably not_, he concluded. She seemed like one of those people that often goes unnoticed, the kind that can just blend into the back ground and go unnoticed for years. The type that's too quiet, too small. She reminded him of a squirrel.

When he didn't take the cookie from her, the squirrel girl raised it higher and shoved it in his face. Terry took a step back. _The type that's too rude, too, apparently,_ he scoffed. "What is it?" he asked, not even trying to mask the irritation in his tone.

The girl looked up and revealed a thin face that housed two dull blue eyes, a flat nose and thin, pink lips. Her dark eyebrows were drawn together as she tried to force the cookie onto Terry again. "It's a delivery," she said, obviously flustered. "Halloween cookies for the Academic Team fund raiser. Someone must have bought one for you, and now I'm delivering it." She raised the cookie again. "Please, just take it."

With a shrug, Terry accepted the sweet and the girl scampered away, relieved. Terry remembered seeing a table set up at the front of the school for the past week, and figured this must have been what it was for. Order a cookie for someone, and then they deliver it on the Friday before Halloween. Huh. Clever.

He checked the little slip of paper that came with the cookie. "To Terry, Happy Halloween! xoxo Dana." Terry smiled. She _would_ buy him a Halloween cookie.

"It's quiet tonight, isn't it?" Terry spoke into his headpiece as he sat against a gargoyle at the top of Gotham City First Catholic Church.

"Yeah…" The old man's voice crackled from the other side of the transmission. "That's probably enough for tonight. You can come back now."

"'Bout time," Terry mumbled, hopping down from the steeple and starting the quick flight back to his Bat Mobile.

"What was that?" Bruce Wayne barked from Terry's earpiece, although the smile in his voice was evident by his tone. Terry shrugged it off and continued to his vehicle. It was almost like a spaceship, he liked to think, and sometimes on the rides back to the mansion he could pretend he was an alien invader, cruising the city. It was a childish thought but Terry liked to entertain it from time to time, regardless.

Although he did enjoy the slow nights when he could be left alone with his thoughts, Terry had to admit, he liked the action-packed ones even more. The fighting, defeating evil in the name of justice-side was just so appealing to him. Even the danger of it all. The fights, blood, the _excitement_ of it was irresistible, and when he found himself thinking of these things the flight home never seemed to last that long.

Terry entered the bat cave and hopped out of the slick, black machine, his mask already in his hand. He yawned and Bruce spun around in his chair to face the young Batman. "You should rest up while you can," Bruce advised, turning back to his computers. "Go home, McGinnis." Terry grinned.

"No need to tell me twice," he said, taking his suit off and stuffing it in his bag by the back stairwell that led to the main part of the mansion. He took his cell phone out and pretended to be shocked at the time. "Almost four in the morning!" he cried. "Would it really be so bad if I stayed here tonight? I'll just sleep in one of the guest rooms and be gone after a quick nap or—"

"Absolutely not," Bruce growled without turning around. "Go home, McGinnis. Straight home."

"Jeez," Terry mumbled. "It was just an idea." He slinked up the stairs and made it halfway before he stopped. "Aren't you coming up?" he asked.

"In a while," Bruce answered, still busy at his computer, but he paused and turned to face Terry again, half-smiling. "But if I go up and find you sleeping in a guest room…"

"Right, right," Terry said, throwing his hands up in defeat, "go straight home, I heard ya." He continued up the stairs until he made it to the clock and quietly stepped into the house. He knew he was the only one in the mansion other than Ace, somewhere, but he still felt strange if he was too loud. He didn't know much about what the rest of Wayne Manor looked like and tonight he was almost too tired to see for himself. _Almost._

He began to take his usual path toward the front door when he heard something clatter, and he froze. _It's probably just Ace_, he told himself, but he waited for another sound anyway. Another noise, something like a drawer opening, followed by the sound of silverware clacking together. Terry broke away from the path to the front door to follow the noise. Every now and then he would hear another noise echo through the empty hallways. A drawer closing, a cabinet opening, Ace whimpering a bit, and then an almost inaudible "Shhh…" that Terry could only assume was directed toward the dog. Finally, he came to a room at the end of a dark hallway where the sounds seemed to be coming from. He hid around the corner to listen for a minute while he decided what he was doing, and what he should do next.

Although he couldn't see her, he could hear a woman's voice as she spoke to the dog. "No, Ace," she laughed a bit, and her next words were spoken through a mouthful of some sort of food. "You can't have any, this is _my_ midnight snack." Swallow. Sigh. "You want some of the peanut butter, though, don't you." Sigh again. "Don't tell Daddy." Drawer opening, clank of silverware, Ace's nails tapping against the tile in excitement. "This can be your spoon, and this will be mine." Licking noises from the dog, another sigh from the girl.

Terry wanted to see who it was. He was sure the old man lived alone, but Ace seemed comfortable enough with the stranger in what he assumed was a kitchen that Terry thought she must at least be a regular visitor. But the time seemed too late for it to be a normal houseguest. Bruce didn't _seem_ like the type to have overnight guests, as far as Terry could tell anyway. He just wanted to get a good look at the stranger in the kitchen, just a peek, and then he'd be satisfied. At least, that's what he told himself. He slowly peered around the corner and watched silently as a young woman stood behind an island countertop, one of her arms extended down in front of her, and from the other side of the counter Terry could see Ace's tail wagging happily. In her other hand she held a half-eaten banana with peanut butter on the top of it, although she was too busy watching the dog to take another bite. Finally, Ace finished his spoonful of peanut butter and the girl laughed and turned around to place the spoon on the counter when her blue eyes met Terry's and they shared a moment of panicked confusion. When the girl was able to comprehend the there was a strange man in her hallway watching her feed her dog, she jumped back against the refrigerator behind her and held the banana in a defensive position, as if it were a knife she could point at the intruder to intimidate him.

Although her blond hair was less ratty now, and her plain school clothes had been exchanged for spotted pajama pants and a pink tank top, the fearful expression was similar to the one she had been wearing earlier that day. Terry turned around and ran as fast as he could to the front door and out of the house. The girl didn't chase him, and Ace stayed behind with her, too.

He didn't understand how or why, but he had at least figured out who.

For the second time that day, Terry had met with squirrel girl.


	2. Chapter 2: Squirrel Girl

II.

Although he felt like a psychopath as he walked through the city the next day, although he saw her in every face he passed and every empty laugh he heard, he knew that really the squirrel girl was nowhere to be found. While half of him was still curious, still wanting to ask her just who she was, the other half of him was relieved that he wouldn't have to face her and explain just why he was watching her the night before. It was this part of him that also thought maybe, in his sleep-depraved state, he had imagined the entire encounter.

The night before, Terry had gotten enough sleep to be able to think, today, about the previous night. However, no matter how much he replayed it in his head, he was always left with more questions than answers. He wanted to find her again, but didn't know how, so he thought riding the subway might clear his head. It was already six o'clock, and he hadn't heard anything from Bruce yet. He was even beginning to think maybe he wouldn't be called to action tonight—every now and then Bruce was busy or sick, and Terry was offered the night off—and as he boarded the central line he found a seat in the relatively empty train, leaned back, and shut his eyes.

He must have ridden through three or four stops before he opened his eyes and noticed the young woman boarding the train. She sat down across from Terry and placed a brown shopping bag at her feet. She then turned around to gaze out the window, too absorbed in her music to notice Terry. She wore her teased blond hair in a sloppy ponytail, and her bright red nails were tapping her mp3 player in rhythm to whatever song she was listening to. Although her jersey-style T-shirt wasn't very short, when she sat down it had folded up to reveal the top of her low-ride jeans, which rested on her flat stomach comfortably. As the train took off and the light shifted, her belly button glinted and Terry realized she wore a belly button ring.

He looked at her a long, long time as she bobbed her head along with her music and watched out the window behind her. She looked so different from before that Terry was almost sure he was mistaken, and that this was someone else. It wasn't until she turned back around and finally noticed him that he knew he was right, and through some cruel twist of fate he was once again face-to-face with Squirrel Girl. And from the angry look of confusion on her face, she recognized him, too.

They sat, still and silent, for one stop, just staring at each other, before she finally cleared her throat and spoke up.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"What?" Terry blinked, taken aback by her brazen form of speech. "I'm Terry… You delivered—"

"No," she stopped him. "I know that. I mean, who ARE you and why were you in my house last night?"

Ah. So she had recognized him in the hallway, too.

Terry straightened his back and she flinched. "I, wait—what? _YOUR_ house?"

"Yeah, asshat, _MY_ house. Who the fuck are you and what the fuck were you doing there last night."

"I, uh… I work for Mr. Wayne. I do repairs and stuff for him. I've been there for months now, and he never mentioned you. So now it's your turn. Who the fuck are _you?_"

She glared at him. "I'm the _lady _of the estate," she said, sticking her nose in the air and scoffing at him as if she were some sort of royal dignitary.

Terry scanned her with his eyes. "You don't look like any _lady_ I'VE ever seen. Where are you coming from, anyway?" he smirked as her grin was wiped form her face and her cheeks flared up. She grabbed her shirt and yanked it down, and gathered her bags at her feet.

"Nowhere. I was just shopping. Sh-shopping!" she stammered, standing as the train came to a stop and hurrying out of the car. Terry stood to follow her.

Although her steps were quick, Terry easily kept up by taking long strides. After she led him to a smaller back road that connected to the road Wayne Manor was located on, the girl turned back. "Are you following me?" she asked, a little less hostile now.

"I work there, remember?" Terry's grin grew wider.

"You have weird work hours, you know that? And besides, Daddy isn't even home tonight, so why are you here?"

Terry stopped. "Uh… Daddy?" He thought back to the night before, almost sure she had mentioned "daddy" when she was talking to the dog, too. He sighed. "You're not serious…"

Squirrel girl stopped and rolled her eyes at him. "It's not… It's not anything _weird,_ okay?" She started walking again and Terry jogged a bit to catch up with her. "He's, like, my actual dad. Not some sort of weird sexual thing, alright?"

"What, no," Terry stumbled on his words, flustered. "It's not that, I just… He… And you…. He's just so _old._"

"Yeah," she laughed insincerely. "He is."

"I just mean, like, GEEZ. How old's your mom?"

"She's… younger. Probably."

"Probably?"

"Probably." She shrugged. "I don't really know who she is."

"Oh, I… I'm sorry." Terry glanced down, suddenly overcome with a slight embarrassment and shame.

But Squirrel Girl laughed. "It's fine, jeez. Don't look so downtrodden. You can't miss something you never had, that's my philosophy."

Terry was quiet as he followed the girl, noticing the grocery bag she carried with her. Inside, it looked like she had vegetables, potatoes, and some sort of meat. "Dinner?" he asked, pointing to the bag, and she nodded. Somehow she seemed completely different from school. She seemed so much _livelier_ than before. There was a certain kind of warmth to her that just wasn't there yesterday, and Terry couldn't help but wonder why. While he wondered, though, the pair reached the mansion. When he followed her through the gate, Squirrel Girl seemed a bit surprised.

"Oh," she smiled, although it didn't hide her confusion. "You're _actually_ coming inside… You know he's not here though, right? And he'll be gone for a long time…"

"I… Yeah, I know, so? I'm sure there's uh… _SOME_thing here for me to fix, right?"

Squirrel Girl shrugged and continued up the steep drive. Ace came bounding toward them from the side of the estate and the girl waved to him as if he were a person. "I'm home!" she shouted, laughing. Just then a crack of thunder echoed through the otherwise calm evening air. "Ah, let's hurry," Squirrel Girl said to Terry and the dog alike. As they stepped over the threshold the first big drops of water had started falling from the sky.

Terry wasn't exactly sure where to go next so he followed her to the kitchen and watched her take the food out of the bad and put it away slowly, babbling aimlessly to the dog. After a while, it was as if she noticed Terry standing there looking lost and she smiled at him. "You sure don't say much, do you?"

Terry looked up and smiled sheepishly back. "Yeah, well… You just seem… different from last time we met, you know?"

"Last time?" Squirrel Girl asked, taking out the jar of peanut butter again. "You mean last night? Because, to be fair, it was late and I was tired and—"

"N-no, no," Terry said, shaking his head. "I mean yesterday at school. Uh, when you delivered that cookie."

"Ah," Squirrel Girl nodded. She unscrewed the lid to the peanut butter and scooped out a spoonful with a spoon. Then she went to the sink and took a pill bottle, opened it and placed a single pill into the sticky treat before lowering it and giving it to Ace, who lapped it up greedily.

"Too many people," Squirrel Girl finally answered as she dropped the spoon into the sink. "I don't like it there. Plus, I've got a reputation to uphold."

"Reputation?"

She smiled. "I'm a nobody, and I'd kind of like to stay that way, to be honest. People don't need to know who I am or where…" Her eyes roamed the room and Terry nodded automatically, although he didn't fully understand.

She leaned forward and rested against the island counter. "Well, Mr. McGinnis? What about you? What's your story?"

Her jersey was a v-neck that, at this angle, was a very dangerous view, and Terry looked away, blushing, before he could see something he shouldn't. In the back of his mind he thought this was how a lot of pornos started. He couldn't deny it though. Although he knew this girl was the same awkward, squirrely girl from the day before, she looked so different, so _hot,_ that she might as well have been a completely different person.

Squirrel Girl took Terry's silence and embarrassment as a sign of possible shame. She sighed and reached up to slowly pull her scrunchie out of her hair, letting the blonde mess fall limp onto her neck and shoulders. "That's okay," she said after a while. "I know you. I've got you pegged."

"Oh?" Terry smirked, meeting her gaze.

"You're the popular type, right? The jock. Good at sports, not so good at academics. Party, party, party. Beautiful cheerleader girlfriend… Stop me any time here."

"Hey…" Terry began. "I mean, she's not a cheer leader…" He wanted to argue, but the girl wasn't entirely off base with her assumptions, even if they weren't perfect.

Squirrel Girl laughed. "It's okay, we all fall under those stereotypes. For example, I'm probably your typical nerd, huh."

Terry shrugged. "Honestly? I've never seen you before yesterday."

"Oh, yeah?" Squirrel Girl stood up straight. "Well, I _am_ a year below you—you're a senior, right? And I'm just a third year." She eyed him and grinned. "I bet you don't even know my name…" She laughed and extended her hand across the counter for him. "I'm Hannah."

Terry took her hand in his and shook.

"A pleasure to meet you."

Hannah had prepared dinner for the two of them and they ate in a room with a television that, for the most part, Hannah watched and used to avoid conversation with her guest. Terry didn't mind, though; he had almost had enough talking for a day. Finally, when they both finished the food, Hannah got up from the surprisingly ratty couch and took Terry's empty plate from him. She glanced out the window as she left the room, but stopped at the doorway. "The rain's stopped," she pointed out. "Wanna see something cool?"

Terry nodded and got up to follow her back to the kitchen, leaving the dog to sleep in front of the television alone. In the kitchen, Hannah placed the plates in the sink next to the spoon and motioned for Terry to follow her as she left through a doorway on the other side of the kitchen that he hadn't yet been through. Behind the wall was a set of stairs, and Hannah hurried up them in excitement. "I've never had a friend over before or anything," she confessed when Terry caught up, "so what I'm gonna show you is really cool, never-before-seen!"

Once at the top of the stairs, Hannah took a right and walked down a long hallway lined with closed doors until she reached one that had been left ajar. She opened the door and walked into a spacious room with light pink walls, a white desk next to an open closet, and a large canopy bed across from that. Terry could only assume this was Hannah's room.

She walked across the room to the far wall where three floor-to-ceiling windows stood. Hannah opened one just enough to fit through and stepped through, ushering Terry to follow in her lead before disappearing into the dark, cold night. Terry obeyed and followed her through the window, to what led to a small balcony. "Up there," Hannah said, pointing to the section of roof above them. She walked to the other side of the balcony and revealed a rope ladder. She proceeded to climb up and, although the cold, wet air bit at Terry's bare arms, he followed his host like an obedient child.

He hoisted himself onto the dark roof section, where Hannah waited with opened arms. "This is it!" she exclaimed happily. "Don't sit though, it's pretty wet and—ah, careful, it's slippery."

Terry wobbled over to her, trying not to slip and fall back onto the balcony below. Hannah grabbed his arm to steady him. "What is it?" he asked, intrigued.

"This is my thinking spot," Hannah smiled. And on clear nights I like coming out here and watching the stars and stuff. Too cloudy for that tonight, though." The disappointment was apparent in her voice. Hannah took one hand off of Terry's arm and pointed to the dark landscape before them. "Those are the woods behind the house," she informed Terry. "You can't see it here though, but it's like a forest back there. Kind of weird, too. It's like this house is where the city just stops and nature starts."

Terry nodded, almost able to make out the outlines of trees in the darkness. A breeze blew and Hannah shuddered. "I guess it's too cold to stay out any longer," she admitted, and Terry could feel her hands shivering as she held his elbow. She walked back to the ladder and Terry followed, and as Hannah lowered herself back onto the balcony, Terry spoke up.

"Why'd you bring me up here?"

Hannah was almost on the bottom rung when she stopped and looked up at Terry. "I've never brought a friend up here or anything." She smiled, but too quickly that smile faded. A stronger breeze blew and Terrey kneeled down to keep his balance. "Please," Hannah pleaded, her voice almost being drowned out by another gust of wind. "Please don't tell anyone about this."

Somehow, Terry knew she wasn't just talking about her secret spot on the roof.


	3. Chapter 3: Halloween

**III.**

Halloween was always a time when petty crimes were abundant. At least, it always seemed to feel that way. This year was no exception, and by one in the morning Terry had already stopped three muggings, two vandals, and one burglary. As the night waned on, he found himself growing more and more anxious—the Jokerz had yet to make an appearance and Halloween was an almost sacred time for them. Still, it wasn't like Terry to complain about lack of action from them. They weren't particularly difficult to deal with, usually, and were mostly just a pain in Terry's side.

In the dark, almost dull night, Terry found his thoughts returning to Hannah, and while he wanted to ask Bruce about her, at the same time he felt she was a taboo subject to bring up, seeing as Bruce had neglected to mention her before. As far as Terry knew, Bruce wasn't even aware that his successor and his daughter had ever met.

Although he knew he couldn't ask, Terry wondered what Hannah was doing tonight, if she had plans. Maybe she was out with friends? Or maybe she was back home handing out candy to little kids? Although Terry couldn't imagine that mansion got many trick-or-treaters.

_All I have to do is ask if I can stay tonight after work, just for a while, and I might get to see her again,_ Terry told himself, concentrating on wording his request carefully in his head. Finally, he had figured out a plan. "Bruce, I—"

Just as Terry opened his mouth, a large, sudden explosion followed by a piercing scream erupted from an alleyway just one or two blocks away. Terry instinctually sprung to his feet and launched himself through the air toward the source of the scream, his rockets in his boots kicking in at the last possible second to send him gliding into the night sky. He latched onto the side of the building and swung around the corner, hanging there and squinting as the smoke in the alley cleared to reveal four figures standing tall, surrounding a fifth figure who was trapped against a wall that turned the alleyway into a dead end.

Terry could see that the four figures were dressed in clownish clothes, their faces painted into twisted grins and clown-like makeup. One of the Jokerz, a girl, was crouching down and covering her ears. After the air had cleared she stood up and scowled at the tall, skinny clown who seemed to be leading the group.

"What did I tell ya!" She shouted. "Don't do that so suddenly, ya asshole!" She pouted but the leader seemed unfazed. He stood tall, looking at the person against the wall and grinning.

"But look, B. Look at her. Look. At. Her." He growled, pleased. He shook his head a bit as if he couldn't believe what he was looking at. "She didn't so much as flinch." He turned and faced the female clown. "She's already got a leg up on you."

Terry glanced at the person against the wall, a short girl in some sort of genie-like costume, and as far as he could tell the Joker was right. She stood her ground firmly, in a defensive stance, her shoulders hunched so all Terry could see from his position above was the top of her blonde head…

Terry froze. He knew that head, that blonde hair, even though this time it was done up on the top of her head in an exotic fashion. And as he realized who she was, he couldn't seem to move, too confused and terrified for her. In his ear he thought he heard something like a buzzing fly, but he couldn't make it out. All he heard was a faint distant humming.

"You've got guts, kid," the leading Joker smirked as he took six long, slow strides forward, quickly closing the distance between himself and Hannah so that he was pressed right up against her. She held her ground stubbornly until the clown was forced to grab her by the shoulders and pin her to the wall. She was pushed with such force that her head snapped up for a moment and Terry witnessed a flash of pain flicker across her face before she regained her composure and stared at the Joker with a fierce, fire-y glare.

"I saw that boy you were with, doll," the Joker hissed, bringing his hand up to Hannah's face and squeezing her cheeks with his greasy fingers. "I saw the way he was treating you. But I like you, doll. You're something else. So I'll give you a choice. Join us. Become a Joker. We'll treat you so much better than that asshole, won't we guys?"

The other Jokerz howled with whoops and hollers of agreement. Hannah struggled against the clown's grip and he squeezed her face harder, causing her to wince. "And what if I refuse?" she gasped in one harsh breath.

"You can either join us, Doll, or…" He jerked his head and faced the sky, erupting in a shrill, piercing cackle.

Terry moved before he had time to understand what his body was doing, and he threw himself onto the slimy criminal. They both slammed against the ground and for a moment everyone seemed to stop, too confused to do anything more. Hannah looked down at the two on the ground, and Terry shouted "Run!" Hannah hesitated, and then lurched forward toward him.

"Fuck that," She mumbled. She grabbed his arm and yanked him up with more force than Terry thought such a small body could produce. While the leading clown lied on the ground moaning and rubbing his head, the others jumped into action, launching themselves at the pair. Two of them seemed unarmed but the third one had some sort of club that he was waving wildly.

"Go," Terry commanded again, pushing Hannah back.

"Go WHERE?" Hannah screamed just as the armed clown brought the metal baton down between their two heads. Hannah grabbed the weapon and twisted, making the clown's arm bend in a way that forced him to let go, lest his arm break. Terry promptly punched him in the nose and he staggered a bit, wiping a few drops of blood with his hand as it dripped down his face.

The other Jokerz rushed Hannah and Terry from what seemed like all sides, and Hannah fought them back with the baton. She cracked one of them in the knee cap with her weapon, and then smashed another's face, all in one fluid motion. Meanwhile, Terry was busy trying to combat the one known as B, but her movements were so swift and sporadic she proved a more powerful foe than Terry had anticipated. When she jumped back and tried to land on her hands in a back flip, Terry swept his arm under her, sending her crashing to the ground, crumpled in pain. When he looked up to see how Hannah fared, she stood, watching him and panting, the two other Jokerz at her feet in a bloody pile. She caught him looking at her and smiled a bit, almost shyly, as she grabbed her arm and dropped the metal baton.

"Hannah, are you—" Terry began, but stopped himself when an arm snaked from behind and wrapped itself around Hannah's neck. The first Joker had her, one arm keeping a firm grip on her while the other pressed a knife against her jaw.

"Not another move, you bat," he hissed, pressing the knife harder against her skin.

"Let her go," Terry growled.

"Make me," the clown smirked. Hannah rolled her eyes and bit down on the Joker's arm with such force that his hand flicked against her neck in pain, leaving a small cut. He let her go instantly and nursed his wounded arm, which was beginning to bleed profusely. Hannah ran from him to Terry and spit.

"Man, fuck you two," the last Joker whined, turning to make a run for it out of the ally.

Hannah turned to Terry. "You CAN'T just let him go!" she protested and Terry smirked, taking one of his batarangs and sending it flying toward the criminal's legs. The release activated and the batarang split in two, each piece connected by a wire, as it wrapped around the Joker's ankles, sending him flying toward the pavement in an instant.

Terry grabbed Hannah and turned his boot jets on, sending the two into the sky. Terry flew Hannah back to the roof of a building that was more than a few blocks away from the alley and let her down gently.

"Th-thanks for the help," she mumbled, staggering a bit. She smiled. "I could have taken them though, probably," she added, laughing quietly.

"Your arm," Terry said, grabbing her by the wrist and lifting it up. Hannah winced.

"One of 'em got me," she confessed, "but I think it'll be okay. Really."

"Go home," Terry commanded before leaping off of the edge of the building and making his way back to his bat-mobile. When he got there, he couldn't help but notice an eerie silence coming from his ear piece. "Yo, old man," he tried. "She's okay. She's… She's alright, okay, so don't worry."

"Terry," Bruce said from the other line. His voice seemed smaller somehow. "I—I don't…"

"It's okay," Terry interrupted him. "It's okay, I know. Bruce, she's okay."

Terry heard a gruff grunt from the old man, before he sighed. "How long have you known?" Terry was silent. After a moment, Bruce continued. "Come on back, Terry."

The young batman obliged, climbing into his black vehicle.

"McGinnis?" Bruce said. "I… Thank you."


End file.
